The Annual Surveillance Report has been published each year since 1997. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia and includes estimates of incidence and prevalence of HIV and viral hepatitis, by demographic and risk groups, patterns of treatment for HIV and viral hepatitis infection, and behavioural risk factors for HIV and hepatitis C infection.

Key findings:

The number of new HIV diagnoses in Australia has remained stable over the past five years, with 1 066 diagnoses in 2012, 1 030 in 2013, 1 084 in 2014, 1027 in 2015, and 1 013 in 2016.

Of the estimated 227 306 people living with chronic hepatitis C at the start of 2016, 32 550 (14%) received hepatitis C treatment during 2016 and 30 434 (93% of those treated) were cured during 2016.

The number of newly diagnosed hepatitis B cases has halved in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the past five years. Newly diagnosed cases in the the non-Indigenous population remained stable.

Chlamydia was the most frequently notified sexually transmissible infection (STI) in Australia, with a total of 71 751 notifications in 2016. Three-quarters (75%) of these notifications were among people aged 15–29 years.

Between 2012 and 2016, gonorrhoea notification rates increased by 63% (62 to 101 per 100 000), with an increase in both males (72%) and females (43%). The gonorrhoea notification rate in 2016 was higher in males (146 per 100 000) than in females (56 per 100 000).